An apparatus for making a spun-filament fleece from a stretched thermoplastic monofilament made of a synthetic resin material can include a spinning unit or spinneret including a plurality of spinning nozzles arranged in rows in a rectangular pattern.
The thermoplastic, issuing as a band of monofilaments into a blower shaft is exposed to a transverse blast of cooling air. The filaments are then stretched in a stretching shaft by outflowing air.
Then the stretched thermoplastic monofilaments are deposited as a fleece on a continuously moving fleece-receiving conveyor or belt beneath the stretching shaft. The conveyor may be a wire fabric belt.
The blower shaft is provided with a plurality of air orifices for admission of stretching air simultaneously serving as a cooling means. The stretching shaft has a stretching shaft wall, if necessary movable, with an accelerating device with a venturi-nozzle like vertical cross section.
In the known apparatus for making a spun-filament fleece as described in German Pat. Document No.35 03 818 the spinning nozzles form a single spinning unitor spinneret. A single band of plastic monofilaments issues from the spinning nozzles. This construction leads to certain limitations. On the one hand the throughput per spinning nozzle and thus for the entire apparatus can not be arbitrarily increased. If an attempt is made to increase throughput, a reduction in the quality of the finished fleece or nonwoven mat results. Also the fleece or nonwoven mat cannot be made from different thermoplastic materials or differently colored materials.